Dawne Mouzon

Dr. Dawne Marie Mouzon (M.P.H., University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey; M.A. & Ph.D., Rutgers University) is a sociologist and Assistant Professor at the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy and the Institute for Health, Health Care Policy, and Aging Research at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. Her research focuses on the “Black-White paradox in mental health,” or the unexpected finding that Black Americans exhibit better mental health outcomes than Whites despite lower socioeconomic standing and greater exposure to discrimination. Specifically, she explores whether religious involvement or the quantity and quality of four different social relationships (families, friends, fictive kin, and church members) explains this paradox.

In another strand of research, Dr. Mouzon employs intersectionality frameworks to understand race, gender, and social class differences in the mental health benefits of marriage and the social-structural causes (and mental health implications) of the Black marriage decline. She also studies mental health stigma, men’s mental health, and the impact of goal-striving stress on the mental health of upwardly mobile African Americans and Black Caribbeans.